Your Classical Life

[Renfield]

All my early exposure to classical was a cassette of European National Anthems (possibly that infamous Karajan recording) that I insisted on my parents playing in the car every time we went anywhere when I was 3-5 years old. That's it.

My father listened to classical once upon a time, but he sort of gave it up. He's not all that musical, something which he knows, and it probably occurred to him that he was listening out of habit... And my mother's no classical listener either.

Though I'm strongly suspecting I've passively listened to classical at some point in my very early years, as it would explain why I've always felt so familiar with Karajan's image while conducting, and/or my fascination with him. Maybe something on television?

Or maybe just LPs my father might've listened to before he gave classical up, and before I'd properly remember it.

In any case, my exposure to classical "sound" was more from my general environment (particularly film and game soundtracks), and perhaps one year of piano lessons I took before I decided it wasn't the time for me to do that (ca. 1995, when I was seven).

At some point, around 16, I just sought out classical on my own, asking for my parents to help me order the Beethoven Symphonies by this "Karajan" fellow (a name I didn't recognise at all, then ), and took it from there.


In fact, I've posted the story before, of how I got more serious about collecting the music around the end of my 17th year; and currently at the end of my 19th year, I am ever keen (read: a sucker) for expanding my collection and my musical horizons, now with classical as my point of reference, recently having branched into black metal (insert disbelief here), and electronica.


So all in all, I wouldn't say classical is exclusive to those brought up with it; it might be more accessible to them, yet I'll second Dave: "I loved music--period, and maybe that's all it took." I do think that's all it takes, but "love" being more than just "I like it".

[Monsieur Croche]

I think it must be really hard to get into classical music if you're not in some way raised with it as a child.

That has not been my experience. In fact my family are pretty undiscerning listeners with whom music would just be playing in the background for relaxation etc. I'm helping my father to get into classical music right now, but even though there seems to be some genuine interest on his part, sometimes I feel rather worried if he would become a genuine fan, because: (1) most of his listening is done while driving, (2) he doesn't seem to care about the names of the works, or about when one work stops and another starts, and (3) he says that he likes everything he's heard!

Oh, for reference, apart from online reviews, Amazon, and various forums, I have the Penguin Guide 2006/7 plus the Third Ear guide, which I am currently ruining with a highlighter pen. I occasionally get BBC Music or Gramophone, but I'm beginning to be disillusioned with these.

I have the Penguin Guide as well, which I value more for introducing new composers to me than for its recording recommendations. I subscribe to the BBC magazine because their cover CDs contain recordings of complete works - a good way to expand your musical horizons at minimal cost... if you're lucky. I enjoy keeping up with the latest news in the classical music scene as well, but if BBC decides to stop this practice then I would immediately cancel my subscription. For reviews I rely more on Amazon customers and the people in this forum. 

[eyeresist]

Well you see the roundabout way I came to it!

Yes, I was impressed!

Never underestimate the importance of early exposure!

...As the photographer said to the actress.

In any case, my exposure to classical "sound" was more from my general environment (particularly film and game soundtracks)

Yes, I forgot soundtracks. I had a cassette of John Williams conducting sci-fi movie music which I wore out when I was young, which I guess was a thorough preparation for Romantic music. BTW, Goldsmith's Alien End Title music (shamefully omitted from the film by Ridley Scott) is terrific and deserves to be in the repertoire.

now with classical as my point of reference, recently having branched into black metal (insert disbelief here), and electronica.

Re Black metal, I assume you have all the Emperor albums?

[Renfield]

Re Black metal, I assume you have all the Emperor albums?

No. Will investigate, thank you.

(Just started on that part of my listening, via a Norwegian friend who's about as obsessive with the genre as I am with classical; in turn, I introduced him to Bruckner.)

[Opus106]

I think my exposure to western classical was thanks largely due to TV commercials.(You don't get to see an orchestra perform here all that often.) I didn't realise that most of them were part of larger, famous works from Europe until two years ago, when I "began my journey," so to speak. And I still keep discovering these adverts. My (extended) family are very much into South Indian classical music, and I've been exposed to that from an early age. While I didn't learn much (a couple of years of violin when I was not even interested in music), my sister used to be trained in vocal, with the teacher coming to our house. Thanks to this, I'm comfortable with classical works from just about any culture, unlike most people of my generation. (I'm 22.)

[Grazioso]

I think it must be really hard to get into classical music if you're not in some way raised with it as a child.

I had no significant exposure to it until I was an adult, and that has never slowed me down

[ChamberNut]

I had no significant exposure to it until I was an adult, and that has never slowed me down

Ditto for me. 

[Earthlight]

My parents, who aren't especially musical, told me that when I was three or four I would go to sleep listening to Beethoven on German radio (we're Americans, but lived there for a time) while they listened to Elvis on AFRTS. I got away from music after a couple of years of piano lessons and some execrable "music appreciation" in elementary school, and got back into it via the Beatles. I listened to a bit of Beethoven and Bach all along, but mostly stayed with rock (the fun stuff, like punk-rock), some modern jazz (Pharaoh Sanders and the like), and some quirky international folk. I joined the Musical Heritage Society back when it was worth joining, in the early 1980s, and listened to some out-of-the-way composers; a guy who hung out at the local watering hole now and then loaned me Mozart and Beethoven. (I brought some Mozart tapes to listen to during a root canal, as an alternative to the Muzak my dentist kept on tap. It took me a while to get over that.)

I probably would have started listening more, but to me a night out was going to a Ramones bar and watching people throw up. I went to a few symphony concerts and probably some chamber music at local colleges, but the social value wasn't there; I ran a shipping department for a wholesale distributor, and looked the part: scruffy, hirsute, beyond casual. The refined symphony audience was too good for me, and I felt like they didn't mind letting me know it. George, from the bar, was about the only person I knew who liked classical and still had a personality I could recognize as human.

In the late 1990s I moved and found myself in a boring job where I could listen to a Discman all day. Music with words, any words, distracted me from whatever it was that I was supposed to be doing, so I started checking out CDs from the library and mixed in some Mahler and whatever else they had with my standard fare of Jason Moran and Greg Osby. A lot of it didn't make a huge impression, but that was probably because I was there under duress.

Then I had a long illness and for some reason (probably because it was cheap) I got the Jochum/Dresden Bruckner set. That music spoke to me of acceptance, and it got me through some real hard times. Classical is between 80 and 90% of my listening these days; the rest is mostly folk and jam bands in my truck.

[eyeresist]

I probably would have started listening more, but to me a night out was going to a Ramones bar and watching people throw up.

Ramones bar - is that like a theme pub?

[ChamberNut]

I started with a place called Beethoven.com, which is good for beginners but not for exploration beyond the familiar works. These days, it's mostly two places

WCPE - http://theclassicalstation.org
KING FM - http://www.king.org/

Of course, some may consider even these stations to be too cliche, but at least they usually play the whole work, and there are lot of works that I haven't familiarised myself with. I also listen to a satellite radio station called Maestro which is much more varied. They regularly play (comparatively speaking) the lesser-knowns, composers and compositions, and also works no more than a a few decades old. (And there's little chit-chat. )

opus67 and I became intrigued by classical music around the same time and ended up listening to Beethoven Radio (Beethoven.com) and their message board.

And we're still listening to this day (classical music, that is) 

I've since that beginning of time built up a modest classical music library (I'm sure well below average of the members here).  I enjoy reading composer biographies (except for the musically technical jargon), I attend about a dozen or so live orchestral performances and a 1/2 dozen or so live chamber performances a year.

The only thing about classical music that has decrease since getting hooked on it is my pocketbook.